Life-saving apparatus.



R. J. TRAIN n A. HOUSTON. LIFE SAVING APPARATUS.

APPLIOATION FILED Mum, 1914,

Patented Mar. 23, 1915.

THE MORRIS PErERS CU., PHoTn-LlTHo.. WASHING roN. D. C

all

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y ROBERT JAMES TRAIN AND ALEXANDER, HUSTON, 0F NASHVILLE, ONTARIO,CANADA.

LIFE-SAVING APPARATUS.

Specicaton of Letters Patent.

lllatented Mar.. 23, 1215,.

Application led May 18, 1914. Serial No. 839,430.

T0 all whom it may concern.'

Be it known that we, ROBERT JAMES TRAIN and LnXANnnn HoUsToN, bothsubjects of the King of Great Britain, residing at Nashville, in thecounty of York, Province of Ontario, Dominion of Canada, have inventednew and useful Improvements in Lite Saving Apparatus, of which thefollowing is a specification.

Our invention relates to a life preserver and has as its principalobject the provision of means 'for protecting the individual while inthe water.

A second object of our invention is to provide an individual containerwhich will protect a person from the water and which will also enablehim to be supplied with J'Eood and water.

A third object of our invention is to provide a. sealed container foruse as a life preserver which may also be ventilated.

A final object of our invention resides in the particular arrangementand combination of parts hereinafter described.

ln the accompanving drawing t-Figure 1 is a vertical central sectionalview of a device embodving our invention. Fig. 2 is a vertical centralsectional view of the device shown in Fig. 1 but taken on aplane atrightangles thereto.

lln the separate views the same part is designated b v the samereference character.

Referring more particularlv to the drawing. 1 is a cap or helmet whichis hinged to a cylindrical casing such as 2. as shown at the point 20.ln order that the cap mav be closed water tight against the casing 2 weprovide a pair of slotted lugs such as 22-*22 to one ot which ispivotallv attached a threaded bolt 23 adapted to enter the slot in theother one ot the lugs and which carries a correspondingly threaded wingnut by which the lugs mav be clamped together thus securelv fasteningthe cap to the casing. Projecting from the casing on opposite sidesthereof and close to the line of contact with the cap are arms orsleeves such as 3-3 which are intended to receive the arms ot' a personwhen the device is in use and which are made ot waterproof canvas orother suitable flexible material. The bottom of the casing is closedwater tight and we make the bottom piece` hollow so as to provide awater reservoir, which may be used in a manner which will be describedlater.

It will be understood that the casing 2 is formed of canvas so as to becollapsible when not in use and in order to expand the body for use weprovide two rings such as 24-24 which are of rigid materialand which aresecured to the interior of the body 2. The rings 2l are connected by aplurality of pairs of links such as 12-12, one of each pair of linksbeing pivotally connected to one of the rings 24 and the links 'of eachpair being connected by means of a toggle joint so that when the linksare straightened the body 2 will be forcibly extended. lt will beunderstood that the helmet 1 is of rigid material so as to protect thehead of the user and within the helmet l we provide air tubes such as 5which prevent the device from sinking` in case the bodv or casing 2should receive a puncture. rlhe helmet 1 likewise is provided with awindow 6 which is so arranged as to admit light but does not permit theoccupant to view his surroundings.

A handle 10 is provided bv which the device may be lifted from thewater.

Under each of the arms 3 we provide a bellows 7 which is designed toforce air into the casing 2 after the same has been shut up, the bellowsbeing operated b v working the arms 3.- rll`he air inlet for each of thebellows is provided b v a passage such as 8, the intake of which iscovered by a small projection such as 9 carried on the outside of thehelmet 1 and which is designed to prevent water from entering thebellows. The discharge from the bellows passes directly into the casingthrough the wall thereof. The air after being used escapes from thehelmet through air valves such as 25 which are also protected by a capsuch as 21, carried bv the helmet.

1When a person is placed in the casing 1 he sits on-a seat such as 14which is suspended by means of a belt 16. rl`he belt 16 is fastened tothe lower ring 24 as indicated at 26, and its other end connects to thelower end of a spring such as 15, the upper end of the spring 15 beingconnected to the upper ring 24 bv means of an adjustable strap such as17. rlhe height of the seat can thus be adjusted to suit the user, whilethe springs protect him from shocks.

lt will be understood that the shoulders of the passenger are supportedby aluminum supports 13-13 which are arranged in pairs, one support ofeach pair being carried by the upper ring 24 and the other support ofthe pair being carried by thev helmet.y

A tube 18 feeds from the water reservoir 4 to a point in front of thepassengers mouth, it being understood that the inner wall of thevreservoir is somewhat flexible so that the passenger may force the waterup the tube by pressing against the reservoir with his foot.

A provision bag 19 fastened in the front gart ofthe apparatus and easilyreachable y the passenger, completes the equipment of the lifepreserver.

. When the apparatus isto be used the passenger is placed on seat 14,the helmet 1 is closed andv screwed tight by means of screws 11, makingthe apparatus water and air tight. The apparatus is then thrown into thewater. Y Itv will be understood that while we have shown and describedthe preferred form of our invention, we do not wish to be limited to.the'details shown and described but contemplate such Vmodificationsthereof as are mechanically equivalent to the form shown and described.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim is v 1. A life'preserving apparatus comprising inrcombination, a body having a chamberfor receiving aperson, a rigid helmet hinged to said body, a waterreservoir arranged in the bottom yof said-chamber, a flexible cover pro-(Topicsl of this patentmaybe obtainedv for ve cents each, by addressingthe vided for said water reservoir, and a tube for delivering water tothe passengers mouth, whereby water may be forced into said tube asdesired by the occupant of the apparatus.

2. A life preserving apparatus comprising in combination, a waterproofcasing having a chamber for receiving a person, a rigid helmet for saidcasing, bellows adapted to be worked by the arms and to force air intothe chamber through the top of said helmet, valves arranged to permitthe escape of air from said chamber, a seat within said chamber, a waterreservoir in said chamber, and means for delivering water to thepassengers mouth.

3. A life preserving apparatus'comprising in combination, a collapsiblebody having a chamber for receiving a person, a rigid helmet for saidbody, a seat carried within said chamber, means for cushioning saidseat, air pumping apparatus arranged to be operated by the passenger forforcing air into said chamber, a water reservoir arranged in the body, atube to deliver the water to the passengers mouth, and means for keepingsaid body afloat when punctured.

In testimony whereof we aliX our signatures in the presence of twoWitnesses.

ROBERT JAMES TRAIN. ALEXANDER HOUSTON. Witnesses:

D. S. TovnLn, H. M. CHRISTMAN.

Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. C.

